Surviving Reach
by Th3 R3al L3gacy
Summary: Captain Luke Wainwright, the Captain of the Destroyer UNSC Dragon Born was part of the space battle of Reach. When his ship took to much damage and was destroyed he went down with his ship like all Captains before him, or so he thought. Luke wakes up on the surface of Reach along with a hardened ODST squad. Now all he can do is fight for his life and hope for help to come. OC/OC.
1. Chapter 1: The Battle

The smaller Covenant frigate imploded from the makeshift bomb, causing the Super carrier it was connected to also implode. Blue light filled the bridge of the UNSC destroyer Dragon Born.

Captain Luke Wainwright, a 6 foot young Italian man just older than 21 had to vaguely shadow his eyes to the beautiful destruction. The mission the Spartans took on was a success and it saved thousands of lives of both civilians and Marines.

It didn't save the men and woman of the Savannah though. 'That's the cost of war' Wainwright thought to himself as he turned to see his crew staring at him. The men and woman sitting at the terminals in the middle of the bridge and the Marine security task force on the perimeter of the room were silent as they waited for the reaction of their esteemed Captain.

Wainwright took one last look at the people around him and then cracked a smile. Everyone on the bridge saw the emotion and started to clap furiously. Some people stood from their terminals and hugged each other, while the Marine task force waved their hands in the air and fist bumped each other.

The Captain put his hand on his chest and felt the scar that has been with him for 3 years now. Given to him by an Elite with an energy sword. Wainwright still remembers to this day how the doctors said how lucky he was that the Elite slashed at him horizontally not vertically. Other people saw it as a scar, a filthy reminder of our hated enemy. Luke, however saw it as a second chance.

(Flashback)

He was just a Corporal in the Marines when he received that scar. You could say that Luke would rather have been at home in his mansion then on the front lines. The war wasn't going well for the humans and when the mandatory draft came, not even Luke's money could save him from being drafted.

He was trained and thrown onto the front lines. His first week was hell. His platoon had to take back a planet known as Drogba IV. A planet for reasons unknown was valuable to the brass of the UNSC, it was a whole planet that was consumed by an endless winter and unbearable snowstorms every planet cycle. Many men were killed by both the weather and the Covenant.

Luke believed that would be the worst massacre of men he would ever witness. Boy was he wrong. It took 2 months for Drogba IV to be re-claimed. One short break later Luke and the rest of his platoon along with many replacements were put back into action. Luke was not told the name of the planet they were sent to, all he was told was to defend an ONI base from a Covenant attack. This planet wasn't as cold, but it was a forest world.

They were dug into the ground in front of the base with Scorpions and MG nests covering their flanks. The Covenant came in ultimate force. Hundreds of ground forces followed by dozens of Wraiths that pounded their position. Banshees flew in force, their plasma torpedoes making holes in their ranks and destroying the Scorpions.

Luke was tending to a downed marine when he heard loud footsteps. He turned around quickly and saw an Elite jumping at him from the top of the foxhole. He wielded an energy sword and the bullets he fired from his magnum at the alien just dinged off of its shields. The amount of pain Luke felt was tremendous, the sword cut through his skin like butter. Blood poured from his chest.

He fell to his back and watched in slow motion as the Elite planned to thrust through him once more and finish him off. This was it, it was true in the movies for once, your life really does flash before your eyes and Luke didn't like what he saw.

He had no wife, no children and not even a father, at least one that was not around. All he had was his mother and even though she meant the world to him, he had nothing to show for in his life, he never even had a girlfriend. He prayed and asked for a second chance, he was only 19 and had so much to live for.

The Elite in front of him took a blast in the chest and fell to the ground dead. A pair of boots hit the ground to the right of him and his answer for a second chance came in the form of an ODST. The elite soldier came towards Luke and he never forgot the words he said to the future Captain. "You're not dying that easily Marine."

A medic came right after him and Luke watched as Hundreds of ODST's jumped over the foxholes and rushed at the Covenant. He never fully saw how the battle ended because he passed out but he asked a few of the doctors and they told him the ODST's successfully stopped the Covenants advance.

Since then the Captain has never seen that ODST who saved his life. But he promised himself that he would use his second chance properly. He rose through the ranks and was given the rank of first Lieutenant on the Dragon Born. Then 5 months ago the old Captain, James Wintergreen was found dead in his private quarters. The Doctors had an autopsy and found that the 55 year old Captain died of a heart attack.

There was a funeral for the honored man that commanded the Destroyer for over 20 years. There was of course talk among the crew of who would be appointed the new Captain. Luke heard several people mention his name which he thought was insane. He knew nothing about commanding a ship at all if anything Luke believed it would be Second Lieutenant Wilkins to take the spot of Commanding Officer.

Wilkins had the credentials, the man also attended Officers academy. The most important thing that every Captain needed was experience and Wilkins definitely beat him in that department. The man had been serving in the core for over 15 years and served on the Dragon Born for 11 of those years. Everyone on this Destroyer had the utmost respect for him.

Either way Luke was shocked when he was asked to the office of Rear Admiral Mikhailovich and was told of his promotion to Commanding Officer of the Dragon Born. "Sir are you sure about this. I mean I have never commanded a whole ship before." He remembered saying to the high ranked official.

The Admiral stood from his chair behind his desk, a smirk on his face. "Son" he started with a southern accent, "I understand that you may think that Second Lieutenant Wilkins would be a better choice because of his experience. Am I right?"

"Yes sir" Luke answered.

"Wilkins is a good man don't get me wrong, but I have chosen you for your record".

Luke was confused, "My record Sir?"

(End of Flashback)

Someone tapped him on the shoulder making him come out of his thoughts. "Everything alright Captain?"

"Alexis" Luke said with a smile on as he turned away from the front viewport. She was an ODST, her armor was on just in case but her helmet was in her right hand. She was a blonde with her hair tied into a ponytail and gorgeous sky blue eyes. Her body was slender with muscles here and there.

He started to lean forward unexpectedly. Wainwright felt a small amount of pressure on his chest and looked down to see Alexis' hands stopping him. "Careful there Captain" Wainwright looked down at the 5ft blonde with a smirk on her face. "Wouldn't want any of the crew to know about our relationship". She said making her voice softer and more seductive. The only bad thing about the two of them being in a relationship is that it's against protocol. He was glad that ODST saved him back on the Jungle world or he would never have met this beautiful woman.

Wainwright straightened up and put on a serious face. "Very well Private Gates" he put his hands behind his back, "Then I must inform you of your private debriefing in my quarters at 0'six hundred".

Alexis smiled, "Yes sir".

"Sir!"

Wainwright turned to see Lieutenant Ambrose with a comm unit in his hand. "You need to hear this Captain". Wainwright took the piece and put it in his ear, "Put this on the P.A so everyone can hear".

The Lieutenant nodded and pressed a few buttons on his data pad, projecting the sound for everyone. "Warning, slipspace rupture detected" an A.I announced. Wainwright looked at his crew and saw them looking out of the front of the ship. He took a deep shaky breath and turned to see out into space.

Several white specters flashed as Covenant ships came out of Slipspace, both right next to the planet and in orbit. "Gamma station control, reading multiple pings below the Orbital Defense Grid" another operator called out.

"Captain". Wainwright turned around slowly, shock and fear filled in his system. He spotted the Tech female talking at him, "I have about a half dozen Covenant cruisers coming right at us".

Wainwright gulped and turned back to space. "Slipspace rupture detected".

"More?" Wainwright asked out loud.

Another Covenant cruiser came and then another and another. More and more ships came out of Slipspace as the chatter over the comm line continued. "Yeah, we're picking up anomalies too".

"Are you reading this?" another naval operator called out.

The Covenant ships were sending out Seraphs and Phantoms, heading towards the surface. Wainwright knew the men on the ground had a slim chance of fighting back the amount of Covenant that was about to be on their door step.

Wainwright turned and faced the crew, "I want all Pilots in their Longswords and every Marine, ODST or anyone that can fight to get in Pelicans and get down to the surface. I'm bringing this ship up to defense code Alpha. Everyone move. Now!"

The Crew moved into position as the Techs got to their terminals and the Marines got into their state of mind and ran out of the room towards the armory. Wainwright turned back around to see Alexis staying in her spot. "You should get going, your squad will need you".

"I'm not going anywhere" a hard edged look on her face. "I know that you're going to order an evacuation of the ship".

"So?" Wainwright asked as he watched more Covenant ships come out of Slipspace.

"Don't go down with the ship please?" Wainwright didn't move but he looked to the face of Alexis.

"It's the code. A Captain must go down with his ship. Go now they need you on the ground". A single tear fell down the cheek of Private Alexis Gates.

"Yes Sir" she choked out as she undid her ponytail and put her helmet on her head, proceeding out of the room quickly.

"Multiple Covenant signatures!" Wainwright knew that voice, it was the operator of Anchor 9. "Does anyone have a visual?"

Wainwright felt the nervousness and fear well up into him as he yelled into the comm line "They're everywhere!"

Just as he yelled that a plasma torpedo struck the Frigate sending a shockwave through the ship. "Captain we're under attack".

"Get those MAC guns online. If we're going down then we're going down with a fight". Captain Wainwright waited a minute before watching the MAC guns come online.

"As soon as their shields are down get Archer missiles on them as well. Understood?"

"Aye Sir" the female tech answered.

The fight went on. Captain Wainwright watched as a few of the Covenant cruisers fell under his fire and for the time he was able to hold off the Covenant war machine. "Lieutenant Ambrose. What is the status of our men getting deployed to the surface?"

"65 percent of the forces have been deployed Sir." Ambrose replied over the comm line.

"That's not enough Lieutenant, we need to get them down there now!"

"I'll try to hurry the process up sir, but we don't have enough Pelicans to move the men faster."

Luke didn't respond he just watched the Covenant cruisers. There wasn't a big percentage of the ships attacking them, most of the ships were attacking the surface. They needed to get his men to the ground and hold back the ground forces until reinforcements arrive.

Why did it have to be this way? Humanity couldn't get a break. Everyone believed for the first time in a while that they stopped the Covenant in their tracks, but no the Super Carrier was able to transmit a signal for the rest of the fleet to follow. We were just too late.

An explosion knocked Captain Wainwright off of his feet and caused the ship to shutter immensely. "Report!" he yelled out to anyone.

"Sir the MAC cannons are offline" one of the techs called out.

"What?" Luke said incredulously, "That's our only means of defense".

Captain Wainwright looked back out to space to see the Covenant cruisers have stopped firing on them. "We need to get out of here now!"

"We can't sir they're coming from both sides".

The ships weren't firing at them and the good old Captain knew why. "Lieutenant Ambrose stop everything. We are going to be boarded and I need whoever you have left to fight back until everyone else gets out with the wounded."

"Yes sir!"

Captain Wainwright turned back to the techs at the terminals. "Everyone get to an escape pod. We're evacuating the ship"

Wainwright expected all of them to just hurry up and leave but no. They all stood still and looked at him, Wainwright was baffled. "Sir?"

Luke looked to the middle of the group of people. A woman with brown hair moved forward, concern in her eyes. "Permission to speak freely".

He looked at her credentials and saw she is a Sergeant. "Granted Sergeant".

"We all know that Captains should go down with their ship, but I like many" she pointed to the people behind her who shook their head in agreement. "Feel that you too should evacuate with the crew."

Captain Wainwright was astonished that his crew felt this. "I will admit that I am shocked to hear this, but I can't leave the ship."

This time a man stepped forward, his credentials showed he was a Corporal. "Sir with all due respect we have read your bio, without you and your leadership, people like us won't last a few hours on the front lines."

Wainwright was again going to answer no when the bridge shook again ferociously. "We've been breached!"

A boarding craft suddenly breached the hull right in front of the only entrance to the bridge. Several Marines got in front of the boarding craft when the front opened. A single Elite jumped out first, Wainwright knew it wasn't some random Elite.

It wielded two energy swords and had gold plated armor. It was a shipmaster. "Close the blast doors now!" Luke ordered as the Elite ran full force into the 6 man squad. It thrusted its two hands in front of him, the swords piercing through the chests of two Marines. The rest of the squad opened fire on the enemy only for the Elite to use the bodies as bullet shields. Screaming in rage again it threw the two dead Marines off the energy swords, the bodies flew and collided with two more operators sending them to the ground. Using its speed the Shipmaster roundhouse kicked an Assault rifle out of the hands of another Marine before picking the man up with one hand and snapped the neck of the Human.

The only sounds that were left were the two Marines trying to get their dead allies off of them and one of the Squad members cowering in the corner after watching his best friends neck snap right In front of him. The Shipmaster didn't bother with the pathetic Human, he just walked towards the bridge looking right at the Captain. The Elite simply made his energy swords slide against the ground as he walked past the two struggling Marines, easily cutting through the dead Marines and through the live ones ending their struggle.

The door to the bridge closed right in the face of the Shipmaster giving the Captain time to breath. He took out his Magnum and checked his clip. He had three full clips.

"Does anyone else have a weapon?"

Out of the 30 people in the room only 4 people raised their hands. "Alright then that's not good. You 4 follow me and the rest of you find a place to hide".

The Captain moved toward the middle of the room and stood next to the Holo table. The 4 people were Private Jenkins, Corporal Brinks, Corporal Lewis and Sergeant Walsh. Sergeant Walsh was the only girl and also happened to be the girl who spoke freely earlier about him leaving the ship. Now he wished he told Alexis to stay instead of leave with her squad. An ODST would be great to have right now.

Luke ran through the options in his head, they were cornered and had a slim chance of survival. But Luke knew that when a person gets cornered they fight harder.

"Alright Jenkins, Brinks we're going to need cover. Grab the tables the terminals are on and bring them over here" Luke pointed a few feet from the Bridge entrance. "Corporal Lewis, you'll help me grab a table and place it next Jenkins and Brinks. We cannot allow the enemy get to everyone else".

Luke felt someone tap him on the shoulder, "What about me sir?"

"Sergeant you're our last line of defense, find a safe place with everyone else and if we fail, it's up to you until help arrives". She was hesitant but nodded in confirmation.

A minute later the tables were flipped on their sides and the 3 techs and Captain Wainwright were behind it, their Magnums pointed at the door.

The lock in the middle of the door started to emit a fizzing sound and a red color. "Get ready!"

Luke cocked his pistol just as the door blew open. A squad of grunts ran in slightly covered by the red smoke. The Captain opened fire and nailed the lead grunt in the face sending his body backwards. The other 3 opened fire as well and were able to take out half of the grunts before the aliens fired back.

The table was barely able to stop the plasma, but not for long.

Private Jenkins exhaled and wiped the sweat from his forehead. This was the first time he was ever in battle, he wasn't meant to fight and it wasn't in his blood. He ejected the empty clip and reloaded.

Luke took cover again and looked to see the Private stuck in the spot he was sitting in. Luke quickly reloaded and looked to the other 2 techs and saw they were doing their part.

"Jenkins!" Captain Wainwright yelled.

"Man down!" Luke looked back at the other table and saw Corporal Lewis on the floor. He was holding his throat, blood pouring out of it.

"Keep up the fire!" Luke looked over the table and saw now Jackals and Elites were starting to pour in through the door. The Captain opened fire and used his whole clip to take down one of the Elites.

He took cover again and loaded his last clip, still Jenkins wasn't moving. "Jenkins!" he yelled again and this time the private snapped out of his trance and looked at the Captain, fear evident in his eye. "We're not dying here! Open fire now!"

Jenkins took a second to confirm what he heard. He nodded at his superior and looked over the table about to fire. Jenkins body came back down fast except this time he had a plasma hole in his forehead. Luke banged his fist on the ground in utter frustration.

Using his anger for good Luke fired off several rounds killing grunts and Jackals. He fired off his last shot and killed the last remaining alien in the room. Breathing heavily Captain looked to the other tech, Corporal Brinks. "You think it's clear sir?"

Luke listened, something his trainer taught him back on earth. Sometimes the enemy wanted you to believe there was none of them left, letting their guard down for a surprise attack.

A sound caught his ear. What was it? He knew that sound, he has heard that sound before and it was getting louder and louder. He heard it clearer and knew it was wing vibrations. "Drones!" Luke yelled as a dozen drones flew into the bridge.

Luke picked up Jenkins Magnum and started to shoot into the air. One of the bugs got close and sliced Luke on his left arm. "Aghh son of a bitch" he yelled as he continued to fire his dual wield pistols. Drone after Drone fell from the two men's fire, one of Luke's pistols ran dry and found himself back to one Magnum.

"Help! Help!"

Captain Wainwright watched as Corporal Brinks was trying to fight off the drones. He aimed at the drones surrounding him but when he fired nothing happened, the gun was jammed.

The three drones picked up the Corporal, their claws digging in his shoulder blade. He screamed for help and Luke tried so hard to try and un-jam his gun. The drones flew back through the entrance, with the screaming Corporal, he was gone and it was just him left.

Luke swore to himself and saw that Brinks dropped his magnum before he got swept away. Luke threw his shitty jammed gun away and picked up the new Magnum and reloaded it. He looked at his bloody arm and inhaled deeply before listening again for anything else. Nothing was heard.

"All clear, Sergeant Walsh round everyone up we're making a run for the escape pods."

The Sergeant came out of hiding and saw the Captain with blood stains covering his body, both alien and human. She looked at the floor and saw the bodies of Jenkins and Lewis, they're bodies covered in their own life juices.

The Captain followed her gaze to the body of Jenkins. "Sergeant-"

"He was only 18" Walsh cut off the Captain referring to Private Jenkins.

"I know Sergeant, but I need you to focus and get these men and women to the escape pods. Can you do that for me?" he let the question hang in the air for a moment.

The female Sergeant closed her eyes, not allowing herself to cry in front of her commanding officer. "Yes sir I'll get it done".

The Captain walked over to the front of the bridge and looked at the surface of Reach. Even from up in space he could see the explosions. "Sir everyone is rounded up".

"Good job Sergeant Walsh, now you're in charge to get everyone to an escape pod."

This time he didn't hear anyone try and get him to come with, which he was glad about. "You heard the Captain! Everyone follow me to the pod bay". 2 dozen feet ran out the entrance of the bridge and out of the Captain's hearing distance.

Luke turned away from the carnage and to the middle of the bridge, where the holo table was located. He typed in a few commands on the terminal that was connected. A small data chip came out of a slot and the Captain placed it in his earpiece.

"A.I online confirmation, Captain Luke Wainwright Serial number 2248761". Something glimmered out of the corner of his eye and he pointed his weapon at the door entrance. Nothing was there but he was pretty sure he saw something.

"Code accepted, A.I online" a bland mechanized voice confirmed.

There was a few beeping noises, "Hello Captain, is there a problem?" a women's voice said in his ear, a southern voice clearly evident.

"Look for yourself Dana, the cameras could tell you".

"Oh my goodness, Captain we've been boarded, you have to get me out of here before the Covenant get their hands on me". Luke never thought he would hear an A.I have concern in her voice.

"Don't worry Dana I'm one step ahead of you".

"Is anyone on this frequency?" he asked into his earpiece as yet again he saw another glimmer, but upon further inspection nothing was there. "Does anyone hear this? This is Captain Wainwright."

"Luke is that you?"

"Alexis! What the hell are you doing on the ship you're supposed to be on the surface"? Luke saw a glimmer again but this time the light shined on the spot and the glimmer moved. He knew what followed, anyone that was on the ship knew what that meant. A cloaked Elite.

Luke pointed his gun at the cloaked Elite, almost instantly the enemy showed itself. It was the gold plated Shipmaster, his two energy swords were covered in Human blood and Luke's anger rose through the roof.

"Alexis I'm in a bit of trouble here". Luke kept his gun trained on the Elite. He knew that this Magnum would not be able to breach the Shipmasters shields, the funny thing was Luke knew that the Shipmaster thought the same thing; he was just toying with him.

"What's wrong Luke?"

"I've got a very unhappy Elite Shipmaster, with his energy swords at my throat".

The Elite seemed to understand what he said and a slight smile was on the Elites face. "Just hang on Luke, I'll be there in two minutes".

That was too long, he would be dead in 1 minute. "I saw your smile split lip, does that mean you can understand me?"

"Yes I speak your filthy language Human. Now do not waste my time with your tongue, give me the machine in your ear and after you have my permission to die."

Luke faked a smile and typed in a code without the Shipmaster noticing. "I have another option, dick. How about you shove that energy sword up your ass". A small compartment on the bottom of the holo table opened.

"Then you can call all your friends back and get the fuck off of my ship".

The Elite roared at him causing Luke to get his secret weapon out. When the Elite saw the gun he ran to the side of the bridge intending to re activate his cloak. Luke opened fire and the grenade that was launched by the gun missed its target by a few inches. It exploded still and sent a shockwave through the bridge. A small part of the bridge blew open, the blackness of space was pouring through the opening. "Dana seal the bridge now" Luke yelled as he slightly clung to the holo table. Without answering the small breach was closed sealing the room.

Luke opened the front and placed another grenade into the launcher. He walked slowly towards the last place he saw the Elite and looked around, listening and waiting for the aliens next move. A terminal fell over on the other side of the room, Luke turned quickly and fired off the grenade.

Several terminals exploded into a fiery inferno, sending other terminals around them to catch on fire. He suddenly felt a warm presence on his neck and he turned in time to see the Elite lunging at him. He dodged out of the way and smacked the Elite in the face with the grenade launcher. It was enough to daze the large alien and using this to his advantage Luke tackled it. They landed on the floor and reacting quickly Luke un-holstered the pistol and fired into the Elite's hand that was holding the deadly weapon.

The bullets were able to do damage to the weapon. It flickered until the sword disappeared. The Shipmaster roared again in response and threw the tinier Human off of him and across the room.

Luke was thrown so hard that he hit the ceiling and fell on top of the Holo table. The glass under him was smashed.

He had no idea how long we was on the table, the pain in his head was too much to handle. Suddenly the Elites face came into view again. "Pitiful Human, you never stood a chance against me."

The Elite picked him up and again threw him across the room. He hit glass again, except this time it was the view port at the front of the bridge. This time the glass only cracked but it still hurt like hell. "You're race doesn't even stand a chance. We will wipe them out and there is nothing any of you can do stop us from completing our Great Journey".

The Elite believed that he had broken the Captain but he was wrong. He heard a strange sound come from the human. Luke was laughing while holding his ribs, they were definitely cracked. "Is that all you got. Here I was thinking that a shipmaster like yourself could hit harder than a mere child".

Luke was just trying to buy time for Alexis to get here, but he seriously regretted saying those words the instant it came out of his mouth. The Elite pinned Luke to the ground and started to furiously punch the human in the face. Blow after blow, he couldn't feel his nose then he couldn't feel most of his face.

The Elite stopped after a minute of blows and got off the top of Luke and onto his feet. Luke spat out blood from his mouth, "That's more like it split lip".

The Elite drew its plasma rifle. "I'm done with you human".

Luke was breathing rapidly and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the Elite as the last thing he saw before he died.

A loud shot rang through the bridge and Luke felt a plasma round hit him in the stomach. He wanted to cry out in pain but couldn't find the air in his lungs to do so. Instead he opened his eyes and was surprised to see the body of the Shipmaster on the floor, a large hole in the side of his head.

Luke looked down at the wound on his stomach. There was a decent sized hole, his skin was burning and blood was all over the bottom of his shirt and pants.

More footsteps were heard, this time a friendly came into view. "Alexis" he barley breathed out.

She threw her helmet off and kneeled down next to her lover. "Oh my god Luke" she looked at the plasma wound and his beat up face. She started to cry, seeing him like this was too much for her to handle. Luke's eyes started to drop closed, but she wouldn't allow that.

"Hey I don't think so. No eye closing until I get you fixed up". The ODST checked her medical kit and found it empty. 'Shit' she thought to herself, she used it on her last mission a few weeks back and forgot to re supply it.

"Sergeant Winters this is Private Gates. I've found the Captain in the bridge, he needs immediate medical attention; requesting reinforcements."

"Ale- Alexis"

Alexis looked down at Luke. He reached for his earpiece and took out a small data chip. Using what little strength he had left he took Alexis' hands and placed the small chip into her hand and closed it. Alexis opened her hand to see a small information chip with a slight blue tint in the middle.

"I need you to get this to Command" Luke said in a low voice.

Alexis was full on crying now, she only knew the Captain for three months but god she loved him with all her heart. "No Luke I'm not going to deliver this to Command, you are".

Luke laughed, "That's why I love you Alexis, always hopeful you can see the bright side to everything." He started to cough, Alexis covered his mouth and she felt her heart break when she pulled her gloved hand back and saw tints of red on her fingers.

"Private Gates!" Alexis heard the voice of Sergeant Winters. The ODST took a quick look away to see her squad leader standing at the entrance of the bridge along with the rest of her squad. She felt relief wash through her, Antonio the team medic was present there was no doubt he could save Luke's life.

"Over here Sir quick" Alexis waved the advanced squad over. She then looked back at Luke only for her to have a panic attack. His eyes were closed and it didn't look like his chest was moving, "You son of a bitch" Alexis mumbled as she checked the man for any vitals, there weren't any.

"What's his status?" Sergeant Winters asked as the squad stopped behind the kneeled down trooper. The ODST Sergeant looked at the esteemed Captain and with his keen eye noticed the lack of moving around his stomach and chest, he wasn't breathing.

"Antonio he's not responding bring the out the Defib". Sergeant Winters merely moved the emotional wreck that was Alexis out of the way before the Corporal got to work. First he opened his med kit and took out a heart monitor, quickly connecting it to Luke, to see that his heart line was flat. Ripping open Luke's shirt Antonio winced when he got a better look at the Captains plasma wound it was bleeding fast, 'That's next on the list' he thought. Antonio then applied special gel to the Captain's chest and finally started to charge up the defibrillator.

"100 CC's" Antonio placed the paddles on the man's chest, "Clear!"

Luke's body jolted from the shock but his heartbeat was still flat lined. Antonio fiddled with the knob on the defib while Alexis watched on helplessly, she wanted to help she really did but if she got too much into it Sergeant Winters would surely figure out about the relationship between her and the Captain.

"Going to 200 CC's, Clear".

(Flashback)

Luke was confused "My record Sir?"

"That's right son" The Admiral answered genuinely, the older gentleman then walked towards the window behind his desk. He had a perfect view of the Stations that protected the North Eastern Hemisphere of Earth. The Admiral sighed, "I think you already know this son but we are slowly losing this war, almost every week we lose a colony to the Covenant and how long will it take them to discover Earth."

The Admiral took his hat off and wiped a hand through his white thinning hair. "I know you think that right now we need experience to Command your Destroyer vessel but I believe we need what you have and that my boy is luck."

Luke didn't know how to respond to that statement so he said the first thing in his head, "Luck Sir?"

"Yes Lieutenant. Luck" The Admiral turned away from the window and opened one of the drawers in his desk. Not long after he threw a folder on top a picture on the outside was easy to recognize, at least for Luke because it was the picture he took at basic training camp two years ago.

"I'm sure you remember your first mission on Drogba IV" The Admiral said while he fell back into his chair. Luke felt all the destruction and death that he tried to put away in his mind break loose for just a mere second.

"I could never forget that sir"

"One of the largest casualty accounts since the invasion of Harvest and you were deployed to that planet only one week out of training camp. Do you know how you survived that frozen wasteland for two months?" Luke decided to remain quiet and see what the Admiral was going to say. "You survived because you were determined, now I'm not going to sit here and say that not every trooper that is in our core isn't determined because that is a lie. What I'm saying is to be a good soldier you need determination but to be a great soldier you need something mixed in with determination. For example our Spartans, each one of them are great soldiers with different attributes mixed into their determination, they were chosen because of those attributes and they became amazing soldiers."

The Admiral opened the folder and looked through it for a minute before yet again speaking. "How is that scar on your chest?"

Luke felt all of the air in his lungs disappear upon the mention of that unsightly scar. It started to burn slightly, making the Lieutenant uncomfortable. "Do you know how many people were stabbed as bad as you were and survived?" Luke merely nodded no. "4" the Admiral let that hang in the air, "All 4 of them were Spartans. Do you see what I am getting at here son?"

Luke didn't answer yet again, to be honest he kind of knew what the man was getting at but he still couldn't believe he was hearing this. After a minute of silence the Admiral continued, "Right now I don't need all experience I need luck like yours Lieutenant, I truly believe in your ability to lead that Vessel because you are also well respected by that crew, you've been through enough."

Luke now saw what the Admiral meant, the shit that he went through in the last two years he completely deserved to be the Captain of the Dragon Born. "I see what you mean Admiral".

"That's good" Admiral Mikhailovich stood from his seat and showed Luke the Credentials, the man continued to place the credentials on Luke's uniform. "Congratulations Captain" he said when he finished and stood back. Luke saluted and the Admiral returned the gesture.

"Good luck Captain" The Admiral said before Luke showed himself out of the office and into his new life.

**(*8*) **


	2. Chapter 2: Waking up

To the reviewer **ODSTHelljumpers:** thank you for the review and to answer your question you have to submit your work to the document. Then afterwards you click new story and enter the info, by the end of entering your info it will ask to enter the document. You simply click on it and voila.

To the reviewer **Halo4ever:**Thank you for the review and yes I like to use flashbacks in my writing. I feel it can give the story a nice vibe to it.

To the reviewer **The Consensus:**Don't worry the plot will show itself soon enough and about the Halo and Mass Effect crossover I would like to help out with anything you need. I am a big fan of the Mass Effect series but I know a lot more about the Halo verse then the Mass Effect verse. Thanks for the review.

Anyway, we continue on.

Day 1.

He felt nothing at that moment. He thought, nothing came to him. He tried to speak, nothing was spoken. He fought to open his eyes, his eyelids stayed shut. Where was he? Why couldn't he say anything or speak.

Was he dead? Luke had no idea but the thought was driving him utterly crazy. He couldn't be dead, he could barely remembered what had happened to get him in this position in the first place. Was it all a dream?

No that couldn't be it either and Just as he was about to have another theory a pain more intense than a thousand suns was felt on his lower abdomen. The man wanted to scream in pain so badly yet again his voice was not present. The pain was intense, Luke didn't understand why he was being hurt. Did he get captured by the Covenant? Was he being tortured?

If that was true he needed to figure out a way to get the hell out of there. He concentrated and tried to shake a part of his body, which to his surprise worked. It felt as though his arm was moving ferociously maybe he would do something to stop the Covenant bastards. Rather than anything happen it felt like more weight was applied to his arms and they stopped moving.

"The pain…"

Luke was able to hear that. It sounded a lot like Alexis! So maybe he wasn't captured by the Covenant. He wished he was able to hear the female ODST finish her sentence maybe it would cause him to remember what in the hell happened.

"I…Stitch… stomach…wound"

Rick had never heard that voice before but something clicked in his head when he heard the words stomach and wound. Just like that everything that happened to Luke had played like a movie in his mind. Luke remembered the Dragon Born being boarded by the enemy. Him and the 4 other crewmen defending the bridge successfully and letting the other techs escape. Then he had the showdown against the Shipmaster. Luke got beat, he got beat bad. He remembered all the punches he received and the plasma shot to his stomach. Alexis had come back and saved him from being killed, they talked and Luke handed him the AI chip after that everything went black and he came into this so called 'world' he was in.

He needed to wake up. He needed to wake up now and tell Alexis that everything was fine, tell her that he loved her with every fiber in his bones. Hug her and plant a much needed kiss to her lovely lips. She must have been going through an incredibly tough time right now.

A sudden shockwave scared the shit out of John as he picked up more bits and pieces of the squads conversation. "Banshees…hit…pod 134…day"

What the hell was going on? "Brace…"

Brace? Brace for what? The answer hit him like a ton of bricks, literally. Another sudden shockwave was felt but this time Luke felt intense pain in his head and soon after he felt himself slipping back into the dark void. 'No, no, no I can't fall backwards into the darkness again. I have to wake up…up…up'. The last words he said before falling back into the void.

(*8*)

Luke's eyes opened slowly taking in the new environment he was in. small raindrops hit his face, the part of the ceiling he was under had small scratches allowing the water to drip through. First before he sat up he did a quick check of his health, he had pain in his stomach from the plasma wound. He slowly moved his right hand to his face noticing that his limb was soar. Luke touched his nose and immediately regretted it. Taking the process slower he pressed his index finger to his nose and felt medical gauze on it, his nose was definitely broken and he probably had a few bruises that Elite could definitely hit.

Everything else was fine, his breathing was normal. Luke sat up and noticed that he was in the cockpit of an escape pod, the door leading to the back of the pod was closed. Luke looked at himself and saw that he still had his officers uniform on, venturing further he rolled the front of his shirt up and took a glance at the wound. It was definitely cleaned and stitched but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt like a mother fucker. Everything seemed normal that is until Luke noticed the dead pilot sitting in his chair. The pilots visor was cracked allowing Luke to see the man's dead, soulless face and the dried blood that originated from his mouth.

Luke simply bowed his head in respect and reached around the pilot's neck, grabbing the cool chain and giving it a yank to get the dog tags. Luke read the writing, "Lieutenant James Gregorson". He placed the tag in his pocket and patted James' shoulders before turning to the door.

He wondered where Alexis and her squad was. If anything he thought they would be there when he woke up but so far nothing, not even a sign if they were alive. Now that he thought about it how long was he out for? Could it be possible that he unconscious for too long and the Covenant had taken over the planet and everyone else retreated back to Earth? Or maybe it was the opposite and Alexis along with her teammates left to go get help and would be back surely. Either way he needed to get out and get some answers.

He pressed the open button expecting the door to open but it didn't. Confused utterly the Captain pressed the button a few more times before he mumbled a few curses about technology never working. Luke removed the button panel taking a good luck at the wires he didn't know much about engineering but he got the jidst when it came to doors.

"That's weird" Luke mumbled to himself as he noticed something out of the usual. Two wires that were supposed to be connected were separated or in other words sabotaged. 'Maybe it was to keep something out' Luke thought 'or to keep me in'.

Luke took the two wires and connected them, the door sliding open almost instantly. He walked through the door and examined the walls of the pod. They were not in great shape at all, some parts of the wall were missing while other parts were sticking out just waiting for some idiot to walk into them and cut themselves.

The pod came to its end with yet another door closed and in his way. Pressing the open button he wasn't surprised to find it didn't work. Shaking his head in annoyance the Captain took the panel off and was shocked to find all the wires missing, like they were ripped out. There was no opening this door with technology he needed to use brute force.

He walked backwards and lined himself up with the door. Luke ran at the door and rammed his shoulder into it making a rather large hole in it. The metal was definitely damaged so it wasn't going to be impossible to open the door this way.

He rammed again and again and again until finally on the seventh try the door split open. Luke exhaled deeply and walked out the exit only for him to stop in his tracks. There were bodies everywhere, at least over 200 hundred bodies laid in the street before him. Most of the bodies were Human which caused the Captain's anger to rise substantially.

Stepping down from the pods ledge he walked slowly through the bodies, weaving through the empty spots on the street making sure he didn't step on any of his dead comrades. Looking back at the pod he noticed that they crashed into the ground floor of a large skyscraper. Luke looked down the street he was on both right and left.

He spotted nothing everything else looked rather clean except for this one mark of death. His theory of Alexis and her squad leaving to get help was gone from his mind and now it looked more like she was dead or they retreated from this position. Luke was hoping for the 2nd theory.

Whatever their plan was he needed to find weapons and armor to protect himself. He wouldn't last a minute with just his officer's uniform and a regular old pistol.

Luke looked around for anything he could use and so far he found a dead Marine Sgt with a loaded Shotgun. The older African American male Sergeant was laying against some debris with several plasma wounds on his chest. Around his body were three dead Elites covered in blue armor, shotgun blasts on the Aliens chests. Luke guessed that these three Elites flanked the older Human and the Sergeant was hit several times but didn't go down until he took the ugly bastards with him. Luke kneeled down grabbing the man's weapon from his hands the Captain also took his dog tags from around his neck and read them aloud as well, "Sergeant Jeff Taylor".

Luke continued his small scavage and this time he moved a little farther away from the middle of the fight. He came to a Warthog, its engine block on fire. There were no bodies in the driver or passenger's seat but there was an unbelievable amount of blood splattered on the seats. Moving to the gunner turret there was a body slumped over the 50 cal turret and Luke noticed an unharmed Assault rifle which would definitely come in handy. Climbing up the side of the warthog he grabbed the weapon which was slinged around the back. He grabbed the weapon and jumped back off.

Something shined on the bumper getting his attention, taking a look there were some words covered by dust. Wiping it off the words read "New Alexandria Police". At least he knew where he was. He had been stationed off world in the orbit of Reach for a decent amount time. He would always hear other crewmen talk about how beautiful this city was. Luke wished he took the time to visit the city because now the sky was grey with most of the buildings destroyed or painted in blood.

He took a quick look around for some armor to improve his defense and that is when he spotted it. Laying down against a wall of a back alley was what he assumed to be a dead ODST, he or she's armor seemed to be completely intact no breaches in the suit or anything. Luke got down on one knee in front of the Elite soldier. He was in full armor so he was expecting the fight.

Luke took the helmet off to reveal a rather young man with blonde hair and grey eyes. No scars were present on his face and he looked to be clean as in he wasn't in the war for long at all. Luke examined the body and saw bruising on the man's neck signaling that he was choked to death, probably by an Elite. Finding pity in the boy, that's what he was pretty much he looked to be just about 18; Luke closed the open kid's eyes.

He knew what he was about to do was incredibly wrong but he needed the protection and he wasn't going to find another dead ODST with intact armor. Luke first took the kids tags and read his aloud as well, "Private Miles Decker". He started to take off Miles armor and put it on him. It took him a little over 15 minutes to put the heavier armor on.

Miles Decker sat there in his black endoskin as his only means of clothing. The last piece of the armor was the helmet. Luke looked at it like it had a disease, he didn't want to wear the armor it was bad luck. 'Come on Luke when was the last time you believed in shit like that?' Luke thought to himself as he placed the helmet on his head. The HUD came online immediately, it showed the suits integrity was at 95 percent which was the best he was going to get. His shields recharged which was the most important part.

He moved his arms and legs around making sure his limbs were getting used to the extra weight from the armor. He did admit that it was going to get a little difficult to get used to the armor but he could get over it soon enough.

Luke put his shotgun on his back along with his new sniper rifle that was in the hands of the ODST and held the Assault rifle in his hands. Taking one last look at Miles he noticed that both of his fists were clutched. Opening the right hand first he found a small package of C4 and he wasn't surprised when he found a detonator in his left hand. Taking both assets he placed it on his hip and walked out of the alleyway.

The night was starting to set in and Luke knew he had to find shelter soon. Walking again through the mob of bodies he decided to head towards the explosions hopefully a large platoon of Marines would be there and they would be alive. Luke heard a noise coming from the corner of the street about 200 yards ahead of him, he knew that sound but he had nowhere to run and hide they would see him trying to run back into the alley.

He decided quickly and laid down on his stomach pretending to be part of the dead around him. It wasn't a heroic choice but it was his only chance of surviving of what he knew was coming around the corner.

A few seconds later Luke spotted the Wraith float around the corner slowly making sure the 4 Elites sitting on top of the tank didn't fall off. It of course headed for him and the esteemed Captain started to second guess his plan when the tank was about 100 yards away. Maybe he should have just ran for it and take the chance. If he was caught here there was no chance he would outrun the tank or the Elites sitting on the metal monstrosity. It didn't matter now because the tank was only a few yards away and he was scared shitless when the tank stopped directly above him, blocking his view from anything. Hopefully the driver didn't get out because the tank would drop and land on top of him.

Hearing feet landing he looked around the Wraith and saw 4 pairs of feet slowly walking through the Human bodies. They were looking for survivors, kicking bodies, stabbing bodies with their energy swords to make sure they were dead. One of the Elites branched off a little and walked to the outskirts of the pile. The alien seemed to trip over something making him stumble a little and as soon as that happened a new pair of feet, human feet got off the ground quickly and made a mad dash for it. Unfortunately whoever it was didn't make it far because the Elite recovered and fired off several shots from his Carbine nailing the man and sending him back to the ground.

Luke cursed that Alien and himself partially for not noticing someone alive on the ground he could have saved him and told him to maybe lay down next to him. He decided it was time to get some payback.

Luke planted the C4 on the bottom of the Wraith and connected it to the detonator, all he needed to do now was wait for the Wraith to move again. 5 minutes later after finding another few alive Humans and putting them down the Elites all climbed back on the tank and started to float away. Luke counted to 30 and turned to watch the Wraith as he pressed the button blowing the tank to kingdom come.

Luke started to laugh. He stood from the spot he 'died' and watched the Wraith burn for another minute savoring the revenge he claimed. The Captain knew that it was going to be a little while before he found help or the other way around. He was going to have to fight a little dirty, Guerrilla warfare. Traps, bombs and anything else that would help him in this fight.

The night came as he stood there and he looked up to the sky. He was always fond of the stars as a kid they represented freedom to him. These pure lights that he would love to watch even to this day. His star gazing was unfortunately cut off as a Covenant Destroyer flew over his head, heading towards the opposite side of the city. Something in his gut told him that the Covenant already controlled this part of the city, he was behind enemy lines with no backup.

He couldn't travel far right now because he definitely did not want to get ambushed. So he decided to go into the building his escape pod crashed into. Walking up the flight of stairs leading to the entrance he prayed this building wasn't filled with Covenant.

Luke opened the glass door slowly, the darkness in the building was insane. He fiddled with his helmet and when he found the button he was looking for he pressed it, activating his night vision. Instantly the HUD light up letting him see the large lobby. In the middle was a counter which he guessed was the security checkpoint.

Continuing to walk forward he kept his finger on the trigger ready for anything. He passed the waiting room of the lobby where a pile of bodies were thrown about on top of the coffee table. There was an unbearable smell that hit Luke's nose as he passed the pile, these bodies were burned and they were burned recently.

He kept moving and this time he came to a dead end hallway with elevators lining both walls. There were letters on top of the Elevator and he got a laugh when he read Forge Hotel. Luke then noticed a glimmer at the end of the hallway and on closer inspection it was a door. He merely peeked through and saw it was the stairway.

'It would be a better idea to get to higher ground'

Luke went with his instincts and started to walk up the stairs. Floor after floor he walked, listening for any sign that Covenant inhabited this building. He looked for blood trails, listened for their language to be spoken. So far it was nothing and when he reached the 17th floor something interesting caught his eye. All of the floors he checked had their numbers on the door and a handle.

This door's number were gone they were spray-painted over and replaced with the UNSC symbol and the handle was missing. Seeing as how he hadn't met a lot of friendlies yet he had to assume this position was overrun and kept his finger on the trigger as he slowly pushed the door opened, his weapon trained in front of him.

It was a little brighter up here but Luke still kept his night vision on just in case. It didn't seem to be a large floor, a big thanks to the multiple bags and carts blocking the passage, it would take him days to clear out the way and that was something he definitely didn't have time to do.

So he took a look around and found only 4 doors were not behind the crap barricade. He searched the 3 rooms closest to the stairs and found nothing. The last door was in the far corner and following what he did with the last 3 doors he opened the door slowly and peeked through the door, gun ready to go off at a moment's notice.

There were no enemies so he walked into the room and saw multiple items on the floor. There were multiple heavy class weapons including a Jackhammer Rocket Launcher along with a few SMG's and a whole lot of clips which upon further inspection were full. Then there was a small woodpile in a circle with a pot above it. He touched the wood and felt it was still a little warm.

Luke's favorite part of the whole thing was the large hole in the corner of the hallway which gave him the opportunity to see across the city and see the carnage that went on through the night. Fires blazed almost everywhere and all he could feel was horror. So many people were dying from the Covenant and sometimes it felt like a huge waste of time to fight back, it's close to impossible to stop the Covenant in their tracks and if Reach falls then so does Earth.

The esteemed Captain decided it was time to get some shut eye. He didn't have time to check the other 40 floors for the Covenant so he placed a Cabinet in front of the door and if someone tried to knock it down he would hear it.

He placed his Sniper rifle and Assault rifle down on the floor but he had the idea to sleep with his shotgun. Another wonderful part about this room was there was a bed. He laid down on the comfy bed and heard a creak from the bed, he would rather sleep with his armor on so the bed was taking the extra weight.

It took a while Luke to calm his mind before falling into a dreamless sleep, hoping that this was all a dream and he would wake up in his cot on the Dragon Born, Alexis asleep in his arms.

If it was real then he hoped he would survive this onslaught.

**A/N: hope you enjoyed**


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